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Embedding videos in Apple Keynote on the iPad

Adding short, relevant videos to a Powerpoint/Keynote presentation can make a big impact when presenting to clients or at a conference. When I'm presenting on topics related to mobile enterprise, I almost always use my iPad. Presenting on a Windows PC or a Mac just doesn't have the same impact as presenting a mobile topic on a mobile device. For example, I presented at the IBM Connect conference last week and showed a short video of IBM's internal transformation to become a mobile enterprise. I began my presentation in Apple Keynote and then switched to the YouTube app, showed the video, and switched back to Keynote. It worked but it wasn't seamless. In addition, I was dependent on network access for YouTube which isn't ideal and can result in "choppy video" without a strong network connection. While I didn't experience a problem for this particular presentation, I like to have multiple options up my sleeve in case things go wrong.

For my next presentation, at IBM Inside Sales University in Killarney, Ireland, I wanted to embed multiple, local videos into a Keynote presentation for a more seamless presentation. Keynote on the iPad allow you to insert photos and/or videos from the Photos application on the iPad . I used MyMedia on the iPad (free to download first 5 videos, $0.99 after) to download the videos from YouTube in MP4 format from the MyMedia app, copy them to the Photos application on the iPad and then embed them in Keynote on the iPad. Step by step process:

Open Safari on the iPad. Navigate to YouTube. Find the video you want and copy the URL to the clipboard.

Open the MyMedia application on the iPad. Navigate to ClipConverter.cc on the integrated browser

Paste the YouTube link from step 1 (above)

Choose the file quality and type (MP4)

Press and hold the download file button until you are prompted to save the video and give it a name

The file will be downloaded to the MyMedia application on the iPad

Touch the "Files" button in MyMedia app on the iPad to view the downloaded video files. Touch the "Save to Camera Roll" button. The video will be copied to the Photos app on the iPad

Open Keynote on the iPad. Open the presentation you want to add a video to. Create a new, blank slide in the presentation. Touch the "+" icon. Select "Camera roll." Select the video and touch "Use." You may want to resize the video to make it larger to fill as much of the slide as possible.

When you come to the slide with the video in the presentation, simply touch the screen to play. I haven't been able to find a way to get the video to play from the Keynote Remote app on the iPhone. I use the Keynote Remote application on the iPhone to control the presentation so I can walk around when I present rather than standing at the podium.

Hi Chris - great tips, thanks! Been trying to figure that out.On the keynote remote topic- I love that too, but I reverse the process: I connect my iPhone to the projector and walk around with the iPad as a remote! This gives a really clear now and next or notes view AND it looks pretty cool to ;-)

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